Never before the creation of the State of Israel did Jews of so many origins live together, and in such a stimulating environment, as they did in the land they soon started calling in Hebrew i-tal-yah, an Island of Divine Dew.

A crossroad of world cultures, Italy has been for over two millennia a haven for Italian, Sephardic and Ashkenazi Jews, in the heartland of Christianity. The Italian-Jewish symbiosis flourished with the Modern Era, in the Renaissance ghettos, continuing through the 19th-century Emancipation, and up to the present.

All major Jewish museum collections include important artifacts from Italy, and The Magnes is no exception. This exhibition presents a selection of manuscripts, books, ritual objects, textiles, photographs and postcards collected by The Magnes over five decades to investigate the global significance of Jewish history in Italy.